Ernest Craven
Ernest Craven is a fictional character and a main antagonist in the Evil Lives On FanFicton series based on the Australian woman's prison, Wentworth He is first seen in The Phoenix Rises which is the first story in the Evil Lives On series, serving as a recurring antagonist. He serves as one of two main antagonists in the second story - War Among Prisoners, where Joan Ferguson served as the other main antagonist. In the third story - Revolution, Ernest serves as the main antagonist. While in the fourth story - Darkness Rising, Ernest will serve as a villainous protagonist before resuming his role as the main antagonist once more in the fifth story - Justice Physical Appearance Ernest is 5ft9, and has brown eyes, and has short black hair. His choice in clothing consists of a white collared shirt with a black blazer over it, black tie, black dress pants, and black shoes. Appearing in his late forties, he had reasonably good looks before his face was horribly burnt thanks to Rita Connors. After returning to Wentworth, Ernest originally wore a see-through face protection mask but decided to remove the mask and not hide his appearance to both his staff and prisoners Personality Ernest Craven is a psychotic individual who views himself as a Deity for Justice, in which he believed he was the only one capable of delivering justice towards anyone who he viewed as a criminal or those that would stand in his way and threaten his twisted plans. He is a self-righteous man believing what he is doing is for the good of society and for the universe, he never sees himself in what he is doing is wrong no how unethical his actions towards his victims might be. Having lost faith in the justice system a long time ago and seeing how the criminals are using the broken system to their advantage, Ernest does the same thing to fight fire with fire He is also very manipulative in which Ernest will hide in the shadows and manipulate others to his advantage while secretly punishing his victims without getting caught, he can also trick others like Kaz Proctor, Franky Doyle and Allie Novak who were enemies of Joan Ferguson, and pretended he wanted to help them to save Wentworth, when really he conspired with Ferguson to get rid of them one by one for total control Ernest is shown to even be abusive towards his own daughter, Scarlett, for many years . Before the events of Evil Lives On begins, Ernest would always push his daughter and never be satisfied with whatever she did. He would play a psychological and emotional game with Scarlett, that relationship being strained for five years when Scarlett had enough of trying to gain Ernest's approval. Later on, when Ernest became Governor and discovered that Scarlett was now his prisoner, they managed to mend their relationship but it's become obvious Ernest is only using Scarlett for his own benefit It's also known that when dealing with one of his prisoners on his own, Ernest will become very aggressive and sadistic when punishing them. He would often gloat how superior he was to them and how they deserved to be punished by his hand. He forces his victims to admit to their crimes and make them believe it was for their own good as a way they'll never break the law again Ernest has even physically shoved his Deputy Linda Miles to the wall, after blackmailing her into doing his bidding and forcing her to do something she didn't want to do Interestingly, despite his behavior towards criminals, if Ernest has discovered that a prisoner did nothing wrong or didn't deserve to be sent to jail, he won't become hostile or aggressive towards them. This happened when Ernest learned of Raven Logan's past when she murdered her uncle for molesting her and showing no remorse for her crimes Early Life Ernest Craven was born on April 18th 1971 and an only child to both Maria Craven and Thomas Craven. He had the pleasures of growing up in a supportive and loving environment as a child should always have. He has enjoyed a close bond with his father that made Ernest want to originally follow in his father's footsteps of being a police. It is noted that from time to time when Thomas was frustrated with his work in taking down the criminals, Ernest overheard his father's conversation with his mother which played the part of him eventually going down towards a dark path of taking justice into his own hands. When Ernest was seventeen years old, his father was murdered by one of Australia's most notorious drug lords, Jared Blake. Thomas had managed to build up a considerable amount of evidence to finally put Jared behind bards, but that would change in 1987 where Thomas was lured into a false sense of security and gunned down by Jared. However, Thomas's murder didn't go unnoticed as there were two witnesses at the scene of the crime which allowed Jared to be arrested During the trial, however, things didn't go according to plan. Jared used his men to intimidate the witnesses behind the scenes and forced them to change their story, that and all the evidence Thomas had on Jared mysteriously disappeared. This, in turn, allowed Jared to be found not guilty by the courts and avoiding jail in the process Furious with the court's decision, Ernest no longer trusted the justice system and vowed revenge over the loss of his father. During the next couple of months, Ernest would begin stalking Jared and followed his day to day schedule, while plotting his revenge. It all came to a head one night when Ernest stalked Jared at a bar where he waited for a couple of hours until an intoxicated Jared was ready to go home for the night. Just as Jared headed out to the carpark and dropped his keys, Ernest was waiting in the wings to make his move. He did just that when Jared picked up his keys and was introduced to the enraged teenager before being knocked into unconsciousness Ernest would take Jared to the docks where he brutally attacked him with a crowbar, breaking every bone in Jared's body. When the courts weren't willing to take action, Ernest decided to deliver justice and avenge the loss over his father. Battered, bruised and broken, Jared pleaded for mercy but it fell on death ears as Ernest delivered the final blow by crushing Jared's skull with the crowbar. After that, Ernest placed Jared into his car, opened the bonnet, turned the engine on, be at a healthy distance from the car and shooting at the engine until the car exploded and fried Jared's body From that point on Ernest viewed himself as the only person to carry out true justice to the guilty and punish them as he sees fit whether murdering them or not. Instead of becoming a police officer, Ernest decided to take a different approach in corrections by originally becoming a police officer in Walford before rising through the ranks to being the Governor. Ernest believed this was the best way for him to punish his prisoners for their crimes Later on, Ernest would go on to marry Lisa and have Scarlett as their daughter The Phoenix Rises Ernest Craven was originally the Governor of Walford, a men's prison, before being appointed by the board to become Wentworth's next Governor. Wentworth's Governor at the time, Jake Stewart, mysteriously vanished without a trace ( When really he was buried alive by Joan Ferguson). Ernest promised his staff to clean up Wentworth's reputation which he viewed as a sideshow freak due to the prison's own Governors - Joan Ferguson and Vera Bennett being locked in as prisoners, multiple deaths, riots and incidents He quickly went out of his way to befriend Wentworth's Top Dog at that time, Kaz Proctor, claiming that he was on her side, he believed in her as Top Dog and wanted to look after the women knowing full well what Ferguson's reputation with them was. Ernest even befriended both Allie Novak and Franky Doyle, attempting to also be their friend as well as Kaz's. However, this was all a sham because Ernest had secretly aligned himself with Ferguson from the get-go, where they planned for Ferguson to rise to Top Dog status again and getting rid of Kaz, Franky and Allie one by one In fact, it was Ernest's suggestion to turn Franky against Kaz and Allie by framing them for the murder of Franky's then-girlfriend, Bridget Westfall. Ferguson would use her contacts on the outside to kill Bridget, send photos to a phone she had helped smuggle in and place it in Franky's room to be seen. When this happened this allowed Ernest to manipulate Franky, doubting her friendships with Kaz and Allie which forced her to turn against them. Ferguson even would offer Franky a chance to join her crew as a way at getting revenge, which Franky would eventually choose to accept Once they had successfully turned Franky against Allie and Kaz along with Ferguson murdering Allie in the shower block with a screwdriver that not only Ferguson used to kill Allie's girlfriend, Bea Smith, but it was given to Allie by Ernest even though he knew Ferguson would end up using it to kill Allie. Before this incident, Ernest would also fuel Allie with absolute rage and her desire to kill Ferguson by reminding her it was Ferguson who killed Bea, just so Allie's emotions will cloud her judgment and throw her off balance. With Allie gone and Franky in Ferguson's crew, all that was left is to take Kaz out of the picture and allow Ferguson to become Top Dog again. Ernest would also be informed of Tina Marcardo's death, another inmate who betrayed Ferguson At the same time, Ernest would be confronted by one of his male officers - Tom Shepherd, when discussing the deaths of Allie, Tina, and Bridget, and Franky turning her back on everyone. Sensing that something wasn't quite right about this picture, Tom asked Ernest if he had any involvement after discovering that Ernest had been meeting with Allie, Kaz, and Franky on several different occasions. Ernest denied any involvement but pretended to be insulted by Tom's accusations, which prompted Tom to further look into this investigation as he feels there's something not quite right about Ernest and his involvement with Ferguson, Kaz, Allie and Franky In the end, Ferguson successfully killed Kaz and became Top Dog once more. Ernest was seen at the end where he smiled and nodded his head at Ferguson and her crew who were walking down the corridors. With Ferguson in control, Ernest could finally begin his plans for Wentworth War Among Prisoners With Ferguson as Top Dog, Ernest immediately removed all of his prisoner's special privileges, restricted their visiting hours, limiting their phone calls one hour per day, remove all TVs from their units, reject any gifts his prisoner's families would send to them in Wentworth. Ernest knew that once Ferguson was in charge of the general population again, the women wouldn't dare to challenge his authority due to the level of fear they had for Ferguson and knowing what she'll do to them if they refuse to do as they were told Ernest would soon catch the eye of a new prisoner by the name of Rita Connors, feeling that Rita could possibly become a threat to his and Ferguson's plans, even suggested to Ferguson to keep a close eye on Rita. He would soon be questioned once again by Tom Shepherd, once his strict rules were implemented. Ernest defended himself by stating that the women in Wentworth have had it easy for far too long and needed a firm hand to keep them in line. He was then questioned again about whether or not he formed an alliance with Ferguson due to Ernest quickly removing the prisoner's special privileges and the deaths of Allie, Kaz and Tina When Tom threatened to report Ernest to the board about his new rules and the suspicions he had, Ernest claimed the board knew very well about his rules and even approved them as an experiment. He even asked Tom " What did curiosity do to the cat?", to which Tom took this as a threat and before he had a chance to respond, Ernest would be contacted by his deputy that his own daughter, Scarlett Caven, has now been locked up as his prisoner Once he was lead into the interview room where his daughter had been held, Ernest demanded to know what Scarlett did to have broken the law and ended up as a prisoner, thinking of the humiliation it would bring on him in front of the public eye. In response, Scarlett told Ernest she was in for supplying drugs. For about five years Ernest and Scarlett haven't seen each other due to a fight that leads to a breakdown in their relationship. However, Ernest held out an olive branch to which Scarlett happily accepts after missing her father. He decided to place Scarlett in Ferguson's unit and warned her to stay out of any trouble After informing Ferguson that Scarlett would be staying in her unit and not needed to protect her, Ferguson informed Ernest that she's planning to kill an inmate named Sonia Stevens who aligned herself with another inmate named Kim Chang, who Sonia used to try and smuggle in a drug to use to kill Ferguson. Ernest allows Ferguson to have her way with Sonia as long as he is allowed to have Kim. He would go on to catch Kim in the act during lunch hour, where he spotted her taking something of interest out of a raw whole chicken and immediately sending her to Solitary Confinement, while Sonia met her demise at the hands of Ferguson Sensing that Tom could be a possible threat to his plans, Ernest looked into Tom's past with Blackmoor which is another women's prison where he was accused of false rape. When Tom arrived he would be confronted by this accusation before finally seeing Ernest's true colors and confirming everything he had suspected about Ernest. When being threatened, Tom stood his ground and told Ernest he isn't afraid to which Ernest replied " You should be". Ernest would then recruit Scarlett to help him spy on Tom and get every possible information Tom had on him, while also using her for another agenda Now that he had an inmate right where he wanted her, Ernest escorted Kim down to the basement below Wentworth prison, an area where hardly any officer would ever go to. Kim would be confused as to why they were in the basement and when asked Ernest questions, she would get no reply. However, Ernest would soon reveal his dark nature to Kim by brutally attacking her, demanding she must answer to her crimes and how this was all for justice. Kim tried desperately to fight back but to no avail as she was repeatedly punched, kicked and even had her back whipped by Ernest's belt. After he was satisfied in breaking Kim's spirit, Ernest placed Kim back in her cell in Solitary to allow her bruises heal undetected Ernest would go on to blackmail his Deputy, Linda Miles, into being his lackey after using Scarlett to record Linda's voice on her voice by admitting to doing special favors for the prisoners as long as she was paid to fund her gambling addiction. He tells Linda that this what she deserved and should consider it a "penance for her sins", as he sees potential in her while keeping a firm hold over the prison With Ferguson's rivalry with Rita at an all time and the discovery of Rita's alliance with another inmate named Mel Barret, Ernest and Ferguson organized a fight between her and Mel. He even praised Ferguson's influence and hold over the women by allowing Wentworth to become a drug-free zone at his request. However, cracks would start to form in their alliance as the two begin to argue in who's really control over not just their alliance but the prison itself Unbeknownst to Ferguson, Ernest was secretly obsessed with her, he even made a collage of photos and articles of Ferguson's career as an officer and Governor before becoming a prisoner, her escape and return to Wentworth on a wall inside his study room where Ernest would always have the door locked whenever he wasn't home. He also was looking into Ferguson's past, trying to find anything he could to possibly blackmail her while also wanting to know why she became the woman that she is Ernest would go on to watch Ferguson's fight with Mel in his office as they fought in the yard, he would smile and sadistically enjoy Mel's suffering, to which Mel was eventually defeated as Ferguson was too strong. When he placed Mel in the slot, Ernest would make his presence known to her and gloat how he's superior to Mel and all the other prisoners, which prompt Mel to have an uneasy feeling about the Governor Later on, he was informed by Scarlett on all the information Tom had over him. Ernest learned that Tom looked into Ernest's past as the Governor of Walford that included rumors of organizing fights between prisoners and physical abuse on an inmate that drove him to suicide, to which Ernest was cleared of any charge brought to him. Satisfied, Ernest would force Linda to plant drugs inside Tom's cell while also using Scarlett as his plan to frame Tom for trying to restart the drug trade in Wentworth. Ernest's plan was a success and by the time Tom realized this, he tackled Ernest to the ground and started punching him before being escorted away by the police When Ernest observed Rita's protest against him and Ferguson in the yard by rallying the women up, he brought Ferguson into his office and demanded she put a stop to it once and for all, he even scolded Ferguson for not taking care of Rita before making a name for herself in the general population. Ferguson warned Ernest of who's really in charge and to not order her around, saying she will deal with Rita in her own twisted way. Ernest used his trump card and blackmailed Ferguson to be his personal slave after discovering that Ferguson faked her psychological test when she was staying at a psychiatric unit before being transferred as a prisoner to Wentworth, if Ferguson refused to kill Rita by the next day she would be sent back all alone and have nothing. This, in, turn shocked Ferguson and left her stumped, as she was usually the one to blackmail her victims. Ernest stated he prepared himself for this day knowing full well Ferguson was trying to do the same by looking for any information on him In the finale, Ernest would observe the fight between Ferguson and Rita in the yard, enjoying the fight as he did when Ferguson fought against Mel. He enjoyed seeing Rita in pain and just as if it looked Rita was about to meet her end, an unlikely savior steps out of the shadows. Franky Doyle ends up being the one to finally kill Ferguson and put an end to her reign of terror, shocking everyone including Ernest Revolution After witnessing Ferguson's death from his office, Ernest fell into a complete rage and snapped. He pulls out his file he used to blackmail Ferguson and scattered the papers throughout his office, now that information was completely useless to him. Ernest also knew that with Ferguson gone, the women will no longer live in fear and possibly tolerate his rules anymore, which prompt him to search for Ferguson's replacement Ernest weighed his options heavily as he came down to only two people in Ferguson's crew that he deemed worthy or at least good enough to take Ferguson's place. He visits Rebecca Widmore in Solitary, seeing if she would be a good fit to keep a tight stranglehold over the prison and asking her if it was the right move to attack Franky in the yard, instead of waiting and biding her time. When he realizes Rebecca had no regrets and promised that she will avenge Ferguson's death, Ernest deemed Rebecca too emotional for his agenda and easily dismissed her, which didn't sit too well with Rebecca at all. Ernest would then act superior towards Rebecca which also resulted in him secretly threatening her own wellbeing With Rebecca out of the picture, Ernest turned to the only other person in Ferguson's crew which is none other than Raven Logan, the muscle of the group and Rebecca's girlfriend. When reading the details of how Raven came to be a prisoner, which is the result of her brutally killing her uncle for molesting her as a child and showing no remorse, Ernest was not only impressed but immediately felt drawn to the woman. When Raven arrived, Ernest wasted no time in offering an alliance with Raven seeing that she had great potential stored inside of her and believed Raven would make a great Top Dog. At first, Raven rejected the idea only out of her loyalty to Rebecca because Rebecca was Ferguson's number two in their crew However, this didn't stop Ernest in enticing Raven to join him. He would fill her head of how she can be so much more than she already is right now, that Rebecca would understand about their alliance and would support it if she truly loved Raven. This, in, turn, made Raven accept Ernest's alliance because not only did she believe in him about Rebecca supporting her, she feared neither he or anyone else would take an interest in her again. Unfortunately for Raven, her relationship with Rebecca would come to a heartbreaking end Ernest would confront Linda Miles in the locker room area bragging about his alliance with Raven and how he will mold her into his own image. When asked why he made Linda help frame Tom, Ernest told her that if he didn't get rid of Tom when he had the chance, then it's possible Tom may have found something that could ruin Ernest's hold over the prison. They would then go to Solitary Confinement together, where Ernest visited Franky to see if she will be a possible threat to his plans. His suspicions were soon realized when he was questioned about Kim's current state of mind. Ernest denied doing anything to her but Franky wasn't buying it and finally saw through his facade Instead of punishing or even kill Franky for the murder of Ferguson, Ernest simply left her alone and turned his dark intentions towards Rita Connors, who he feels is entirely responsible for everything that has happened in the last several months. When he ordered for Rita to hold out her arms so Linda could handcuff her, Rita refused which followed in Ernest slapping her across the face, allowing Linda to put the handcuffs on. From there, Ernest lead Rita to basement as he did with Kim and had the same intentions to punish her When they arrived Ernest forced Linda to stand guard and hear everything that was about to happen in the next room before shoving Rita inside. Once he entered and closed the door behind her, Rita immediately went into fight mode as she feared the worst of what Ernest may do to her. She attacked Ernest with his back turned but was soon overpowered by him. With her on the ground, Ernest began to viciously attack Rita with the same crowbar he used on his father's killer, justifying his actions that what he is doing is in the name of justice. Rita manages to fight back resulting in her handcuffs being broken and brutal physical fight between her and Ernest broke out Throughout their fight, they would banter back and forth with Rita telling Ernest he had made a big mistake in attacking her because it will get him fired and considered him to be pure evil. Ernest gloated that he will not be losing his job or go to prison because he has two people on the board under his thumb, which will prevent him from going anywhere. He denied and refused to believe he was a hypocrite or became the thing he swore to destroy as stated by Rita, belittling her intelligence for not understanding the importance of his work and that he will remove anyone in his path that prevented him from carrying out true justice Ernest would turn the tables by hitting Rita with a nerve pinch that cuts off her oxygen, but he hits her again ensure she could breathe again while he went off to grab a flame torch to burn her with. As soon as Ernest returned and prepared to deliver the final blow, Rita knees him in the balls, allowing her to grab the flame torch and used it to burn Ernest's face causing him a tremendous amount of pain. With the Governor down, Rita attempted to finish him off by forcing the flame torch in his mouth with her finger on the trigger. She was stopped by Linda who burst into the room and restrained Rita from killing Ernest The injuries Ernest sustained forced him to go to the hospital, while the board appointed Juliet Mitchell as his temporary replacement until he returned. In order to cover up the incident with his face, Ernest conspired with Linda by framing another officer named Kevin for trying to restart the drug trade with Tom and vowed revenge on Ernest when he learned Tom went to prison